Cooler Weather Helps Fire Crews in SW Oregon

The Douglas Complex of wildfires in southwest Oregon has grown to more than 28-thousand acres. The dry lightning forecast for Wednesday never materialized in the region.

A view of the Douglas Complex Fire in southern Oregon.

Credit Credit Marvin Vetter / ODF

Chris Friend is with the Oregon Department of Forestry. He says cooler weather is helping fire crews.

"We have a cloud deck in here, a marine layer that's holding temperatures down and humidity up and it should be a pretty good day to make a lot of progress until some time when these clouds burn off. We'll probably get into some more active burning period at that point" says Friend.

Fire crews are performing burn out operations to help create fire lines. The Douglas Complex is 7 percent contained.

About 100 people are still under evacuation. About 400 homes are threatened by the fires. A public meeting is planned in Wolf Creek Thursday at 6:00 at the Community Center.

Lightning did spark several small fires Wednesday in the Willamette National Forest outside Eugene.

Smoke from wildfires is creating poor breathing conditions in parts of the Northwest.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says the air has reached "very unhealthy" levels in parts of southwest Oregon. That's due to a series of wildfires that have led to some evacuations but so far have caused very little property damage.

A fire that started Saturday morning near Wenatchee, Wash., is now burning more than 30 square miles in rugged terrain. Five homes have been consumed in the blaze and the residents in another 60 are being told to evacuate.

It's one of nearly two-dozen major fires now burning across the Northwest.

Forecasters predicted a higher-than-normal fire season this year in parts of the region, and so far it's right on target.